FZ190 upgrade from Vista to Win 7 - an UPGRADE not a clean install

[ScuderiaConchiglia]

With all the hand wringing folks have been doing about the lack of drivers for a clean install of Win7 I thought I'd jump in to the deep end of the pool with my FZ190 and investigate an alternative. My good friends Rajesh and Dr. Pratik have done clean installs of Win7 on FZ models, but I decided to take a different approach... the "dreaded" OS in place upgrade. Partly out of curiosity, I wanted to see if it would work, but mainly because I have a ton of software that would need to be reinstalled, if I did a clean install. That would mean days or weeks of inventorying every thing I have installed, digging up installation media and then installing all the stuff. I just don't have the spare time. So...

This past weekend I imaged my C: drive (all my data and I mean ALL my data is on D:, I am a fanatic about that). MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BACKUP OF YOUR C: DRIVE BEFORE YOU TRY AN UPGRADE! I ran the Windows 7 Update adviser and it said I had some issues:

NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT - NVIDIA Not compatible The driver installed for this device is not compatible with Windows 7.

Bluetooth Stack for Windows by Toshiba version 5.00.00 - Toshiba Known issues You may experience issues running this program on Windows 7. Before upgrading, we recommend uninstalling this program. Visit the publisher's website for a possible solution (Note: Not sure why I even had this installed. I think I was playing around with some bluetooth stuff a while back.)

iTunes version 9.0.1.8 - Apple Inc. Reinstall after upgrade Before upgrading to Windows 7, we recommend uninstalling this program. It can be safely reinstalled after the upgrade.

MagicDisc 2.7.106 - Reinstall after upgrade Before upgrading to Windows 7, we recommend uninstalling this program. It can be safely reinstalled after the upgrade.

Microsoft Network Monitor 3.2 version 3.2.1303.0 - Microsoft Corporation Reinstall after upgrade Before upgrading to Windows 7, we recommend uninstalling this program. It can be safely reinstalled after the upgrade.

Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 SP1 version 6.0.192.0 - Microsoft Corporation Reinstall after upgrade Before upgrading to Windows 7, we recommend uninstalling this program. It can be safely reinstalled after the upgrade.

Skype™ 3.8 version 3.8.180 - Skype Technologies S.A. Known issues You may experience issues running this program on Windows 7. Before upgrading, we recommend uninstalling this program.

I didn't really worry about the NVIDIA driver thinking that Win7 would just install it's own. I uninstalled everything else it suggested.

Inserted my Win7 DVD and tried the inplace install aka upgrade. It wanted to install some updates and then reboot BEFORE it would install. But then the DVD drive was not recognized! Turned out to be the classic Upper and Lower Filters issue. (This would come back to bite me latter.) Got that fixed and tried the upgrade again.

Install of Win7 went flawlessly. Took about 2 hours with no notice of any reboots (but I was not in the room the entire time). OSD of brightness and volume work, as do their function keys. The OSD of the touchpad gesture for IE "Back" and "Previous" are staying orphaned on the screen, so I went into the touchpad setup and turned off the OSD for these, no big deal. WinSXS is now 3 gig! I actually have MORE disk space after the install. Before I had 18 gb free now I have 20. (More about that latter) Despite the update adviser complaint about the Nvidia driver, I have 7.15.11.6743 dated 11/7/2007. (Can't remember what one I had prior to the upgrade, but I suspect Win7 rolled me back. But since the OSD brightness controls and FN keys work I am happy.)

Noticed that “Recent Documents” is missing as is the shortcut button for the desktop. (Since I use that a lot, I dug in and found it was just a Start Menu option I needed to turn back on.)

Sysinternals Desktops (virtual desktops) had a conflict with the hot keys it was Alt-Win and 1 thru 4. Changed it to Alt-Ctl-Win. I decided to uninstall it since Stardock's Fences works so much better at what I was using Desktops for in the first place.

My Sidebar gadgets are gone except for Clock, Pictures and Nvidia temp display! That was not good. I could load the ones I used, but after a log off or reboot the were gone again. I found a solution on line:
1. Start "Turn Windows features on or off"
2. Disable "Windows Gadgets Platform" and reset
3. Proceed to "%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar"
4. Delete Settings.ini (after making a copy)
5. Start "Turn Windows features on or off"
6. Enable "Windows Gadgets Platform"
7. Re-install the Gadgets

Can’t find the “Show Desktop” button that used to be in Quick Launch, until I found this:

Although the Show Desktop icon which located inside the Quick Launch Bar have been made obsolete and removed from Windows 7, but the Show Desktop function is still been retained in different location and can still be used, and does exactly what Show Desktop does.

In order to quickly show desktop in Windows 7, just click on the Show Desktop bar at the far right end of the Windows Taskbar and notification area, which is next to the data and time clock (if you don’t hide the clock system icons in notification area). See illustration below for the exact location.

Other than typical Show Desktop feature, Windows 7 also has a feature called Desktop Preview, aka Aero Peek, that temporarily make all opened windows on the Windows 7 desktop transparent when user mouse over the “Show Desktop” button at the far right end of the taskbar.

Now here is a BIG surprise: There are two HUGE folders on the C: drive $inPlace.~TR and $Windows.~TR. Both are caches of stuff from the in place install. In disk cleanup there is a “Cleanup System files” button. This exposes a new group of disk cleanup options: “Files discarded by Windows Upgrade” (1.5 gb), “Windows Upgrade Log files” (1.04 gb) and System queued Windows error reports (3kb). This means I will gain another 2.5 gb on top of the 2 gb I noted earlier! I now have 24gb free! Woo hoo! That is 6gb smaller than Vista!

Roxio is not functioning. It won’t start, I don't even see any disk activity. I suspect this is due to the upper/lower filters issues earlier. Tried to reinstall it with Vaio Recovery Launcher. That failed. On a lark, I went to the actual program file and ran it and it ran. Now it works from the start menu too. That's odd. Rebooted and it still works from Start menu. Not sure why that worked, but...

Ready to try to turn on VT in preparation for installing virtual PC functionality. Downloaded a DOS image. Downloaded the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool Version 2.0.6 tool via: http://www.bootdisk.com/pendrive.htm and used the tool to create a bootable USB drive. Copied an editor and the sycmos.exe app there plus instructions needed as a text file. It worked great and now VT is enabled. (I haven't tackled the virtual pc install yet. But will report back after I have.)

I needed to mount an ISO during the creation of the bootable USB stick. So I installed the latest version of MagicDisc. It worked just fine.

I am a happy camper. Everything seems to be working (knock on wood). My boot times are slower but I have NOT yet defragged the boot files. (Again I'll report on that latter, too.) The machine seems a bit quicker but that may be a placebo. I have fewer processes running, not sure of the exact count, but I am guessing (from memory since I didn't take a count before) about 15-20 fewer.

So, if you are on the fence about an upgrade to Win7 and, like me, don't want to take the time to reinstall all your software, jump in, the water's fine!!! An in place upgrade worked well and just might be the right solution for you. In the past folks have avoided these because they bloated up the system. Such does not appear to be the case with the Vista to Win7 transition, witnessed by all the disk space it freed up!

My only word of caution, and I cannot stress this highly enough: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BACKUP OF YOUR C: DRIVE BEFORE YOU TRY AN UPGRADE!


...stay tuned I'll add to this thread as I uncover new things to share about this excursion....

Gary

[ScuderiaConchiglia]

UPDATE:

Picasa dies as soon as I start it. It pops up some dialog about it created a dump file it wants to send to Goggle. If I click past the dialog Picasa actually appears to run just fine. Uninstalled and reinstalled it. It still dies. Found out it was an issue with not having the most recent install of Quicktime! Uninstalled Quicktime and now Picasa works. Very bizarre. Thank you Apple and Goggle. Do I detect some collusion? Just sayin...

Gary

[coolguy]

I don't have problems with Picasa and Quicktime in Windows 7 RC 64-bit. Thanks for telling your upgrade story. I will be clean installing Windows 7 64-bit soon.

[ScuderiaConchiglia]

Another Update:

I enabled VT in the BIOS of my machine in prep for installing "Windows Virtual PC" (the Win7 equal of "Virtual PC 2007").

Installed Virtual PC and then Windows XP mode. Windows XP mode works fine but Virtual PC console, which is supposed to be integrated into WinExplorer didn’t work. The integration didn’t show up. There was no button for "Create Virtual Machine" when you start Win VPC and it displays the virtual machines folder. Three possible issues. One, I did it in the wrong order. The instructions say to install Win XP Mode first the VPC. I reversed that. I also didn’t use the default directory. Third I have two tools that are integrated into WinExplorer are 2nd Speech Center and StExBar. I don’t use the first but do use the latter. The check boxes for their toolbar options are acting odd. I uninstalled both, Win VPC and "Windows XP Mode".

I really don't need the Windows XP mode stuff, since I already have three virtual machine files (VHD's) from VPC2007. I found documentation that I don’t need to install WinXP mode at all. So I reinstalled just Win VPC. But still see no button for Creating a Virtual machine. Turns out this is a known issue when upgrading from Vista! The solution for me was to apply this registry patch:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags]

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU]

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags]

That got me the "Create Virtual Machine Button" I was looking for in the Virtual Machines folder.

An initial attempt at creating a VM for an old VHD failed. When XP booted, it wanted to install the “Win VPC Integration Components”, which I let it do. That was a mistake. I need to uninstall the VPC 2007 “Additions for VPC 2007” first.

Reverted to a backup of the VHD file and tried it again. When XP booted, I canceled all of the the installation attempts for new hardware and for “WIN VPC Integration Components”. I then used Control Panel and uninstalled “Additions for VPC 2007”.

I rebooted the virtual machine and then installed the “WIN VPC Integration Components” stuff. I also needed my XP install disk for the USB driver that is now supported in Windows Virtual PC.

Now my old VPC 2007 VHD file was working fine under Win VPC. There is a very noticeable improvement in performance. One thing I miss though is watching XP actually boot up in a window. You see that every time you start the virtual machine UNTIL you install the Windows Virtual PC Integration Components. After that the XP bootup is hidden. Silly I know, but there was a certain "wow factor" when folks saw it booting in a window. Now all you see is the desktop.

...more to come as I finish up the upgrade...

Gary

[ScuderiaConchiglia]

Some additional observations.

First my temps are significantly less than they were under Vista. With Vista my FZ190 idled at around 62 degrees Celsius. Now I am at 52! I also noticed that Win7 is much more aggressive about throttling the processor clock rate back. I have a CPU utilization meter running as a gadget and under Win7 I notice that the CPU speed is at .8ghz a LOT more often than it used to be and the periodic blink of the disk activity light is much less frequent than under Vista. I think these are contributors to the lower temps.

Gary

[ScuderiaConchiglia]

I just timed the hibernate function and it only takes 40 seconds to hibernate. (I have 3gb of memory.) It takes 25 seconds to wake from hibernation. I don't have timings for Vista but I know this is significantly faster than it was under Vista.

Gary

[mudito]

Great Post, ScuderiaConchiglia. It was very useful! After I read it I went ahead with the update and It came just perfect.

I'll share some of my notes:

Processes running before/After update: 52/53 (just one new, i don't know which one)

Memory utilization in Vista 584MB (after reboot, letting 5 mins iddling the OS). In Win7 575MB (just about the same)

Hibernate and resume from Hibernate, yup, way faster, 40% resuming, 30% going into hiber mode.

What you mention about the nVidia driver, at first i kept the Windows one. But later on, I've tried to install a new one. I've tried the one from nVidia's web site, the laptopvideo2go modded inf one, Omega, and another that I don't remember now. It was frustrating, none of the drivers wated to install.

So I did a driver cleaner, wipe out any nVidia driver on mi Win7 installation and I got an Standard VGA driver installed instead. I went ahead again and started several nvidia installs and NOT a single one worked. I've tried the "update driver" and "Have disk" method, forcing it, and no case.


After about an hour or so of booting safe and normal mode. On Safe mode I accidentally selected from nVidia's 186.81 WHQL driver folder the 8600M GT... And guess what? IT worked! (I have an VGN-FZ290FU with an 8400MGT)

Weird... once i selected the wrong driver, it worked like a charm. The performance gain from Windows driver to this one is quite a lot, from 4,0 to 5,6 @ Windows Experience Index. And almost double frame rate @ rFactor (using CTDP 2006 mod) =)


Anyway, hope this help to anyone who's trying an in-place upgrade. It did went perfect... By the way. I'm enjoying 6GB more of free disk space on my C drive.

[ScuderiaConchiglia]

Mudito,

Thanks for the additional notes. I have not messed with the Nvidia drivers. I have seen a complaint about the newer ones running hotter because apparently the 3d engine is running all the time when Aero is on. There is a separate thread here about that. You might want to check into it and see if you are affected by that.

Did you happen to notice WHERE the additional 6 gb came from. It seems to be WinSXS on my machine.

Gary

[mudito]

Yes, Tottally! I did check it before the upgrade (because of your notes) and after. 3,5gigs now. It was about 10GB before.

Actually, after the in-place upgrade it was somewhere near to 2GB, but after applying some Windows updates and re-install some software (such as VMware Workstation and some other minor things), it went to 3,5.


About the video, I'll search around, but it doesn't seems to be hotter than before, at least not that much. But we'll need to have in mind that in Buenos Aires this days is FREAKING HOT

[Omar11]

Hi!
I successfully (almost) upgraded my SZ4 with Vista to Windows 7.
It only warned me before upgrade that I might have compatability issues with Bluetooth stack by Toshiba. So now i removed it... I think i've read somewhere that there is Bluetooth Stack by Toshiba for Windows 7?

Everything is working, all FN combination buttons, even camera utility etc. But hibernation still takes a while.. And I also can't fine tune some of 'vaio power management' schemes anymore. When i try to open "maximum battery' or 'ultimate battery' it just shuts off... However when I open 'vaio optimised' or 'maximum performance' scheme it lets me do everything.. For some reason battery economy related schemes are no longer adjustable.. And also only two modes at a time are visible, there used to be 3 of them before upgrade.